Britain’s former US ambassador Peter Mandelson failed his security vetting before taking up the role, but Prime Minister Keir Starmer was unaware officials had overruled the recommendation, the government said yesterday.
“Neither the Prime Minister, nor any government minister, was aware that Peter Mandelson was granted developed vetting against the advice of UK Security Vetting until earlier this week,” a government spokesperson said, adding that the decision was taken by officials in the foreign ministry.
The disclosure of the vetting failure increases pressure on Starmer over his appointment of Mandelson, who is under police investigation for allegedly leaking government documents to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and led to renewed calls for him to resign. Starmer has apologised for the appointment but defended his own actions, accusing Mandelson of creating a ‘litany of deceit’ about his Epstein ties and promising to release documents on how he was appointed.
A foreign ministry spokesperson said Starmer had ‘initiated a process to establish the facts’ of the vetting process, adding that it ‘was working urgently to comply with that process’.
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